(NewsNation) — Anthony Geary, who played Luke Spencer on the daytime soap opera “General Hospital,” has died. He was 78.
The eight-time Emmy winner died on Sunday following complications from a scheduled operation three days prior, TVInsider reported.
“It was a shock for me and our families and our friends,” Geary’s husband, Claudio Gama, told TVInsider in a statement. “For more than 30 years, Tony has been my friend, my companion, my husband.”
“General Hospital” fans knew Geary as Luke Spencer, one half of daytime TV’s biggest couple, Luke and Laura, who was played by Genie Francis.
The actor played the role of Luke in 1978, Luke and Laura’s 1981 wedding was watched by over 30 million people, which is the most-watched episode in soap opera history.
Tributes pour in for Anthony Geary
“(The) entire ‘General Hospital’ family is heartbroken,” the show’s executive producer Frank Valentini told People magazine in a statement.
“Tony was a brilliant actor and set the bar that we continue to strive for. His legacy, and that of Luke Spencer’s, will live on through the generations of ‘GH’ cast members who have followed in his footsteps. We send our sincerest sympathies to his husband, Claudio, family, and friends. May he rest in peace.”
GENERAL HOSPITAL – Luke and Laura’s wedding – 11/16/81 Laura (Genie Francis) and Luke (Anthony Geary) put their turbulent past behind them and married on the grounds of the Port Charles mayor’s mansion, on Monday, Nov. 16 and Tuesday, Nov. 17, 1981, when Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Daytime invited the world to tune in to the daytime wedding of the decade, on “General Hospital”. The long-awaited nuptials, plus guest star Elizabeth Taylor, served up the highest ratings in soap opera history. GH81 (Photo by Bob D’Amico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) GENIE FRANCIS, ANTHONY GEARY 
American actor Anthony Geary, wearing a blue blazer over a black-and-gold shirt, and American actress Genie Francis, who wears an off-shoulder black-and-white polka dot dress, attend an event in the United States, 1993. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)
Geary left the series in 2015.
His on-screen wife, Francis, 63, reacted to the news of his death on X on Monday, writing that Geary was a “powerhouse” of a performer who could go “shoulder to shoulder with the greats.”
“This morning, I woke up and went into my husband’s arms. In my sleep, my life was flashing before me and I was afraid of death,” she wrote. “An hour later, I received a call from Frank Valentini, he told me Tony died.”
She continued, “I immediately felt remorse. I hadn’t spoken to him in years, but I felt his end in my sleep last night, and with it a big part of me, and mine.”
He is survived by Gama and their cat, Max.
The couple lived in Amsterdam.